Today our topic is the Power of the Holy Spirit. We begin with the book of Acts, chapter one, verses 4-9. This is forty days after Christ’s resurrection.
4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
6 Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. (Acts 1:4-9)
“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you”. That’s the promise Jesus made to the disciples, and to those of us who follow in their footsteps. Ten days after he spoke these words, on the day of Pentecost, they did receive the gift of the Spirit. And the Holy Spirit did enable them to be his witnesses. We are here today, two thousand years later, because of that promise and that gift. But the promise wasn’t limited to the original twelve disciples. It was made to us also. We know this, because the original Twelve couldn’t go to the “ends of the earth”. They couldn’t cross all of the world’s oceans, and mountains, and jungles, in order to bring the gospel to every people group on the planet. But those who followed them over the centuries could do that, and have done that, and are doing that. And so the promise of the Holy Spirit, and the promise of his power, was for the Twelve, but also for those who followed them in faith, including us.
We have the same Holy Spirit the apostles had, the Holy Spirit who comes to indwell us from the time when we first put our trust in Christ. And because we have the same Spirit as the apostles, we have the same power as the apostles. The very same. There was nothing special about them. They were just ordinary, unschooled men, as Acts 4:13 tells us. But by the power of the Holy Spirit, they changed the world. And you and I have that same power; the same power as Peter, and James, and John. Christ’s promise, and the gift and power of the Holy Spirit, belongs to us as well. This morning, I would like to examine what that power is, and why we need it, and what it can enable us to do.
First, note that Jesus promised them the power of the Holy Spirit just before he left them and ascended into heaven. And so this gift was the alternative to Christ remaining with them. Instead of his personal presence with them going forward, they would have his Spirit. In John’s gospel, before his crucifixion, Jesus talked about this exchange, this substitution.
“6 . . . you are filled with grief because I have said these things. 7 But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.” (John 16:6-7)
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have Jesus here present with us, bodily, so that we could speak with him, face to face? Ask him for guidance? Seek his blessings? Certainly that’s what the disciples wanted. They didn’t want Jesus to leave them. They wanted him to stay. They were filled with grief when he told them he was going away. But Jesus told them that it was actually better for them that he leave, because he would send the Advocate, who is the Holy Spirit. And the same is true for us. As much as we might wish to have Jesus here present with us, it is better for us to have his Spirit. Because the Spirit lives in each one of us. And the Spirit comes with power.
Now, I want to make clear that the Spirit’s power is not separate from his person or his presence. His power isn’t some kind of supernatural energy that we can direct or manipulate as we wish. No, the Spirit’s power is just the Holy Spirit, acting in power. He is in control of his power, not us. But his power is available to us because he lives within us. And because the Holy Spirit lives in us, we have the ability to act, and think, and speak, and respond in the power of the Holy Spirit. That’s pretty amazing when you stop and think about it. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ, and so you literally have Jesus Christ in you; you literally have God in you. This is what Paul means when he tells us in 1 Corinthians 6:19 that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit; it means that the Holy Spirit lives in us; he inhabits us; he dwells in us. As Paul writes:
“16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.” (Ephesians 3:16-17)
So we have the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, living in us, each one of us who have trusted in Christ. And this indwelling Holy Spirit gives us power. That’s the good news. And it is wonderful, amazing news. But the challenging part of that equation is that we have that power because we need it. Because we cannot live the Christian life without the power of the Holy Spirit. We cannot. Following Christ; obeying Christ; witnessing to Christ; forsaking sin; seeing others coming to faith through our witness and then being transformed by faith: all of those things would be impossible without the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit. And so, it is a wonderful gift. But it is also a necessary gift.
This morning, I’m going to focus on just one of the powers we receive from the Holy Spirit. Next week, we’ll look at some of the others. The power we are looking at today is the ability to live together in unity. And like all of the things we do by the power of the Holy Spirit, the kind of unity that God desires his people to have is not humanly possible. It is possible only by the power of the Spirit. It requires supernatural enablement. Because it requires doing things that don’t come naturally to sinful human beings. Unity requires forgiveness. It requires granting one another grace. It requires longsuffering. It requires forbearance and tolerance.
Let’s look at how the Christian church came into being in the first place.
12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. (1 Corinthians 12:12-13)
The Christian church as a whole, and this Christian church, Richwood First Baptist, was formed by the Holy Spirit. Our very existence as the body of Christ is due to him. And so the Holy Spirit has a vested interest in keeping us together; he has a strong desire to support us in maintaining the bonds of love and fellowship that keep us united. And he will do that, if we follow his instructions and draw on his power. Paul writes this,
2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. (Ephesians 4:2-3)
Paul calls it “The unity of the Spirit”, because it is by the power of the Holy Spirit that we are able to remain united. And our unity is critically important. So important that we are to “make every effort” to maintain unity and peace in the body. But as I said, our efforts must be guided and empowered by the Spirit, or they won’t be enough. Why? Because it isn’t just our human sinfulness that makes unity difficult. That in itself would be a significant challenge. But we also have the constant pressures of this fallen world, which is pushing against us, seeking to conform us to its own corrupt image. Not only that, we have the opposition of our enemy, Satan. And Satan is doing whatever he can, every hour of every day, to undermine our unity, because a unified church is much more difficult for him to attack and destroy. A unified church is a threat to his dominion and power.
And so because of all those things—human sinfulness, the pressures of a fallen world, spiritual warfare—it is a fact of life that relationships in the church can fray and fracture over time. The good news is that we have a remedy. By the Holy Spirit’s power, we have a way to strengthen relationships so that fractures don’t develop. And when they do, we have a way to repair and renew those relationships. We find that remedy in Paul’s letter to the Colossian church:
12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” (Colossians 3:12-14)
Here, Paul is telling us how to live in harmony and unity with other believers. He writes that we should clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Now, maybe you’re a person of action: just tell me what I need to do and I’ll do it. And actions are important. We do need to take practical steps to support and help one another. But the “softer” aspects of fellowship that Paul lays out here are also important; in fact, they’re critical. So let’s look at this passage a little more closely.
I’m going to draw four main points from this text.
First, where do these character qualities come from? Not from ourselves. Not from our innate goodness or strength of character. These qualities don’t come naturally to us. But they do come naturally to God. And he has given us his Spirit so that we can exhibit these qualities of his character. In his letter to the Galatians (5:22-23, 25), Paul writes this:
“22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. . . 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.”
These qualities are the “fruit” of our ongoing relationship with God through his Spirit. Our ability to live in this way, our ability to treat other believers in this way, comes from the power of the Holy Spirit. For example:
• He is the source of our ability to extend compassion to those who are struggling, when we might otherwise be tempted to judge them or condemn them.
• He is the source of our ability to treat others with kindness, instead of treating them rudely or inconsiderately. He enables us to be gentle rather than harsh.
• The Holy Spirit is the source of our ability to relate to others in humility, when we are tempted to be proud or arrogant.
• He enables us to be patient rather than impatient.
• And most of all, the Holy Spirit is the one who enables us to do this consistently, not occasionally, not only when other people are watching, not only when we are in a good mood, not only when we are at church. But all the time.
By referring to these qualities as “fruit”, Paul is saying that they are the natural outgrowth of our relationship with God. And so, the more we are in close fellowship with God, the more we will see ourselves living out these qualities. We need to be communicating with God in prayer. We need to be listening to what the Spirit is saying to us as we read and hear the Word of God. That’s what we’ve been talking about these last two weeks; these are important means by which we remain in fellowship with Christ and access his Spirit’s power. And so the more we do those things, the more natural these character qualities and behaviors will be to us, so that we will be “keeping in step with the Spirit”, as Paul says.
Now, if this idea of walking by the Spirit seems a bit vague or mystical, let me offer an analogy that may help. Think of it like power steering on a car. You know it’s there, but you don’t have to consciously engage it. You simply steer the car. And the hydraulics, or the electric motor, supply whatever power is needed to actually turn the wheels. It’s the same way when we depend on the Holy Spirit to help us love and serve one another, or to do anything that requires spiritual power. We simply obey God and do what he calls us to do, and the Holy Spirit supplies the power. Yes, we know that it is the Holy Spirit which is enabling us to do it, just like we know that our car has power steering. But we don’t have to consciously think about it, or do something special to make it happen. We still need to pray. Prayer helps to remind us where the power is coming from. But our normal, everyday practice is just to obey God, and let the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit engage, more or less automatically, to support and enable our obedience. Does that help?
The second thing Paul tells us in Colossians 3:12-14, in order to strengthen our unity, is that we are to “Bear with each other”. The word for this is forbearance. It’s different than forgiveness. Forgiveness is what is needed when someone sins against you. But forbearance is what you need when someone is merely displeasing to you. When someone is acting or speaking in a way that you find offensive or tiresome. They have habits, or opinions, or behaviors that you don’t appreciate. And this is inevitable. Because people are different. They like different things. They have different ideas. They have different convictions They have different ways of talking, and thinking, and living. And so, when Paul tells us to “bear with each other”, he means that we don’t try to change other people to make them more pleasing to us. We don’t avoid them because of whatever it is we find disagreeable about them. We don’t criticize them. We simply put up with them, graciously, and with good humor. We don’t take offense. We try to be a Little. Less. Brittle. That’s forbearance. Accepting people for who they are. Not trying to make them more like us. Not making them feel judged, or belittled, or rejected.
How do you do this? By keeping in mind that there are probably things about you which not everyone cares for. You yourself may have opinions, or habits, or ways of speaking or acting, that some people find off-putting or offensive. Unlikely, of course, because you are all lovely people, but possible! And if you keep that in mind, it will be easier for you to put up with the quirks and eccentricities of other people. Not only that, but consider that God puts up with you. Yes, he loves you and he forgives your sins, but he also puts up with all of your oddities and imperfections. No matter how many rough edges you may have; He never avoids you or shuns you. He doesn’t judge you. He never grows tired of your company. He accepts you and is glad to fellowship with you, in spite of everything. So let’s extend one another the same grace and put up with each other, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Because God puts up with us.
Third, Paul tells us in Colossians 3:12-14 that we are to forgive: “forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” This one is more difficult. This isn’t for the times when we merely find other people a bit irritating or tiresome. This is for the times when another believer sins against us; when we feel that they have wronged us. And this will happen. To be in fellowship with other human beings is to be sinned against. When that happens, we are to forgive them. Easy to say, but hard to do. This can be very difficult. Especially when the hurt comes from someone you have trusted and fellowshipped with, perhaps for many years. So let’s be clear about what forgiveness is, and isn’t, so as not to make it harder than it already is.
First, five things that forgiveness is not:
• Forgiveness doesn’t mean the hurt goes away. We don’t have to pretend that we’re not hurting. What it does mean is that you give the hurt to God, rather than seeking revenge for your pain or trying to make the other person hurt because they hurt you.
• Forgiveness doesn’t mean that what they did was OK. It doesn’t excuse what they did. It doesn’t mean that you somehow deserved it. Or that you should admit that you were the one in the wrong. No. You can say that it wasn’t OK, and that you didn’t deserve it, and that they were in the wrong, and still forgive them.
• It doesn’t mean that they deserve to be forgiven. They probably don’t. Neither did you. But God forgave you anyway.
• Forgiveness also doesn’t mean that you have to immediately and fully trust people who have sinned against you. It’s OK to have boundaries, and to be cautious.
• And finally, forgiveness doesn’t mean that we accept abuse, or that we allow others to be at risk for abuse.
Those caveats are important, because there are bad actors out there who will use our desire for Christian unity against us; who will demand that we immediately trust them after a transgression, or insist that we allow them to continue in patterns of abuse. And that is not what God is calling us to do.
What, then, does forgiveness mean? What is it that God is asking us to do? Here are some descriptions that may help. Forgiving someone means that you:
• Don’t hold what they did against them. You don’t hold a grudge.
• Don’t treat them with anger, or contempt. You don’t speak ill of them or try to damage their reputation.
• Don’t shun them or cut them out of your life.
• Don’t take vengeance or try to get back at them.
• Don’t attempt to harm them, or take any action toward them out of malicious intent
Instead, you are to seek their good. You are to seek to bless them and help them; you are to desire their well-being.
I’ll acknowledge that it can be difficult to know the right thing to do when there has been an offense. In addition to praying over the matter and considering what the Scriptures teach, you may need to seek the counsel of someone who is mature in the faith. And forgiveness can take time, depending on the nature of the offense. I don’t want to imply that it can be, or should be, immediate. But we have to start. We have to try. And we have to keep trying, to keep wrestling with it, even if it takes years. That sounds hard, because it is hard. In fact, if we didn’t have the Holy Spirit, it wouldn’t even be possible. But we do have the Holy Spirit, and we do have his power, living in us. And so by the grace of God, it is possible. The Holy Spirit’s power is what enables us to forgive. And as we read in Colossians 3:13, we are to forgive as Christ forgave us.
To forgive as Christ forgave us means two things. First, that we are to forgive because Christ forgave us. And so His forgiveness of us is the motivation, and the reason, for us to forgive one another. As we reflect on the fact that God has forgiven us all of our sins — all of our disobedience, all of our selfishness, all of our falsehoods and deceits, every instance of lust, and greed, and envy; gluttony, pride, anger, hatred; all of the secret sins that are lodged deep in our hearts, all of the sins of our past — as we consider that God has forgiven all of these sins, then we realize that we have absolutely no reason to refuse to forgive the sins that others may commit against us. If God can forgive everything we have done, and said, and thought, no matter how vile, or destructive, or shameful, then we can forgive one another.
And second, forgiving as Christ forgave us means that we forgive in the same way that he forgave us, freely and completely. Not reluctantly, not grudgingly. Not harboring bitterness or resentment. But completely. Recall the words of the prophet Micah:
“You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.” (Micah 7:19)
God has cast all our sins into the remotest part of the ocean, never to resurface. And that is the model for our forgiveness of one another. To forgive fully and completely.
But what if we don’t? What if we refuse to forgive others their sins against us? What if we hold on to our grudges and resentments; what if we nurture our pain and hurt rather than turning it over to God, and asking him for the grace to forgive those who caused it? Then we will not experience the joy that God desires us to have. Then resentment and unforgiveness will be like chains dragging us down. We will never be free of them. And the unity of the church, the unity of the body of Christ, will be damaged. But there is an even more serious consequence of failing to forgive. What does the Lord’s prayer say? “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors”. Jesus taught that we should ask God to forgive us as we forgive others. And he makes this connection between our forgiveness and God’s forgiveness even more clear in the verses immediately following the Lord’s prayer; in Matthew chapter six, verses 14-15:
“14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” (Matthew 6:14-15)
“If you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” That statement makes the importance of forgiveness very real. Forgiveness isn’t optional. Forgiveness is essential to who we are as followers of Christ. And so if someone refuses to do that, but instead persists in hardening their heart; if they refuse to do the difficult spiritual work of seeking God’s grace and power to forgive, then Christ is saying that they are not truly one of his followers. Why? Because they are rejecting the very thing that is at the core of the gospel, which is forgiveness. In other words, if we refuse to extend forgiveness to others, we cannot have God’s forgiveness for ourselves. So let’s forgive one another, by the power of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.
Finally, the fourth and last thing that Paul tells us to do in Colossians 3:12-14 is this:
14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” (Colossians 3:14)
“Over all these virtues put on love.” That is the glue that binds together all of the rest. And love is also a gift of the Holy Spirit. As Paul writes to Timothy:
7 For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.
(2 Timothy 1:7)
That’s the core, the central unifying principle. If we love one another, as we are loved by God, then we will bear with one another, and extend grace to one another, and forgive one another, and our relationships with one another will be characterized by joy, and peace, and harmony, as we serve him and worship him together. Let’s pray that God will give us the grace to do that, by the power of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.
